Full Body Day + Ab Blast, 4/3/2013

One thing that’s nice about having this blog is that, even if no one read it (and thanks to those of you who do!! Hi!), we have quite a collection of workouts.  This is great because it means that on days when we just don’t have time to come up with something new, we have pre-designed workouts ready to go.  And that’s exactly what I used on Wednesday.  I made some adjustments to Kara’s Full Body Day + Ab HIIT from August last year, and it was perfect.  I took out the lunges, since I had done that exact move the day before, and I didn’t feel like doing the ab reaches or push ups, so I put in some replacements, instead.  The rest was pretty much the same.  That Ab session is a killer, man.  Here’s the re-vamped workout:

One Big Circuit, repeat 3x

• Side-to-side squats, holding two 10-lb dumbbells (x20 — 10 each side), see minute 2:30
• 10 butt-kicks, followed by 10 high knees (repeat sequence 3x)
• side plank with inner-thigh leg lifts (x10 each leg)
• overhead tricep press with 20-lb dumbbell (x10)
• burpees (x10)
• assisted pullups (x10)

Ab Blast:  Do the first exercise for 30 seconds, as many reps as you can, then take a 30 second break before moving on to the next exercise.  Do the second exercise for 30 seconds, then take another 30-sec break, etc.  Complete the series of 4 exercises 3 times through.

• Dead Bug
• Frog Crunches
• X Plank Spider Twists, alternating sides
• Crab Kicks, alternating sides

Crab Kicks

This one was great, and took about 45 minutes to complete. Make your own modifications, if you like, and give it a try!

-Amanda

 

Promises, promises…

Well, so much for my promise to hold down the fort!  Turns out that I was pretty swamped at the same time that Kara was swamped, so blogging took a hit.  Oh well — I still hit the gym a lot, so I have a bunch of posts scheduled to show you what I’ve been up to with my workout buddy Doha.  Here’s the first.

A 30 minute workout!  We had to get in and out of there on a busy Wednesday, so I increased the weight to get maximum effect (given our short time frame) from lifting, and finished off with a Tabata to get extra long-term burn.

Circuit 1, complete three times through

• Walking lunges, holding two 15-lb dumbbells (x20 — 10 each leg)
• Sit-up + Overhead Press (x20)– laying on your back, hold a kettlebell upside-down in both hands (the most secure position), with straight arms, directly over your face. So yeah, don’t drop it. With the kettlebell in this postion, do a situp.  As you sit up, move the kettlebell over your head.  At the top of the sit-up do an overhead press, by bringing the KB down to your chest, and then pressing it back over your head.  Lay back down, moving the KB held with straight arms, over your face again. That’s one rep.  These are time-consuming… but really good.    We did them with 20lbs.
• Speed Skaters (x30) — see video

Circuit 2, complete three times through

• Deadlifts, 40-lb bar (x20)
• Pushups (x20)
• Squat jumps (x30)

Finish it off with 5 minutes of Tabata Training on the treadmill.  Alternate 30 seconds of sprinting (or 80-90% of your max effort) with 30 seconds jogging (or 40-50% of your max effort), until you get to 5 minutes!

-Amanda